The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) has raised serious concerns about the credibility of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), claiming that if elections were conducted using ballot papers instead of EVMs, the INDIA alliance could have secured a larger share of the seats in the state.
According to the party, they believe that under a ballot system, the INDIA bloc would have won 75 out of the 81 seats in Jharkhand, a significant boost compared to the results seen with EVMs.
This assertion was made by the JMM through a post on its official social media handle, X, which was also shared by Acting Chief Minister Hemant Soren. In the post, the party expressed strong discontent over what it termed as “dictatorial rule” under the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), highlighting the growing anger among the people of Jharkhand.
The post also criticized the BJP for its failure to understand the state’s concerns, including the issue of unresolved dues. The JMM claimed that the BJP owed Rs 1.36 lakh crore to the people of Jharkhand, which, according to them, was a major point of contention in the state.
In the most recent state elections, the JMM-led alliance, which included the Congress, RJD, and CPI(ML), achieved a historic victory. The coalition won a total of 56 seats, a record for any alliance in Jharkhand’s 24-year history.
The JMM secured 34 seats, Congress won 16, RJD took 4, and CPI(ML) claimed 2. This was seen as a major political achievement for the opposition bloc, and yet, despite the victory, JMM leaders, including Hemant Soren, have continued to express doubts about the reliability of EVMs.
Supriyo Bhattacharya, the General Secretary and spokesperson for the JMM, had raised alarm about the possibility of EVM tampering during the election campaign.
He pointed to reports from the Haryana elections, where it was noted that EVMs maintained 99 percent battery levels for an unusually long period of time. Bhattacharya suggested that such reports were suspicious and could be indicative of malfunctioning or tampering with the machines.
The JMM's concerns about EVMs align with the views of several Congress leaders, who have been vocal about the need to return to the traditional method of voting using ballot papers.
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge has also called for the reintroduction of ballot papers, labelling EVMs as “completely unreliable.” To further their cause, Kharge announced that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi would lead a "Ballot Paper Yatra" across India, campaigning for a shift back to the old voting system. The JMM has supported this call, adding its voice to the growing debate over the credibility of the election process in India.
This issue has found resonance beyond Jharkhand. Just a day before, the Maharashtra opposition alliance, Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), which faced a crushing defeat in the November 20 Assembly elections, also joined the chorus calling for a return to ballot paper voting.
The MVA coalition, which secured only 48 seats in the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly, has voiced its concerns about the fairness of EVMs and demanded a reversion to the traditional system in future elections.
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